eBay Chatter

At the moment, I am not aware of a drop off store for selling your items on eBay in the Bedford County area, so I can make some quick remarks without offending anyone.

We considered doing so and may still, but we got into teaching because it is much better to do it yourself than to pay someone 20-40% to do it for you. That may sound high commission but to do it right, it takes time and effort.

As the owner of the item, you can reduce that time because you already know what it is you are selling and probably know its' best attributes. The store has to research it to determine what to say about it and what the "ballpark" price might be.

If all they do is throw it out there for $.99 and see where it goes, then they can do it cost effectively, but you may not get the best representation. That is what many of them do, so ASK before you consign your products.

If they do research, take the time to take good photos, write a good description, price carefully, have a good feedback score and make it easy for the buyers to purchase their product, they are earning their commission. There is more involved in completing the sale, but those are the basics.

I must confess that there is an additional reason that we do more teaching than consignment. I hate to tell someone that Grandma's priced vase is not worth what they expect. By doing some quick searches on eBay in "advanced search" they can find out what items are really selling for, not just the price people are asking.

Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.